Cranes at an oil rig facility in Lagos
Nigeria bullish about oil recovery
Efforts to restructure and boost investment appear to be working, but doubts remain about the plan to almost double crude production by 2030
Nigeria’s upstream is finally showing momentum after years of decline and regulatory uncertainty. Last year, three of four FIDs made by major oil firms in Africa were announced in the continent’s largest oil producer as President Bola Tinubu’s reform agenda started to bear fruit. Domestic oil output has slumped by 40% since a peak of roughly 2.5m b/d in 2005. Fast forward 20 years, and the government has set the ambitious target of reviving liquids production to 3m b/d and gas to 12bcf/d by the end of the decade. “The targets are undoubtedly ambitious,” said David Thomson, vice-president of sub-Saharan Africa at consultancy Welligence Energy Analytics. “The resource is there but attracting s
Also in this section
13 March 2026
Brussels is again weighing a cap on gas prices amid the Hormuz crisis, but the measure could backfire by deterring the LNG cargoes Europe urgently needs
12 March 2026
Emergency oil stocks provide a last line of defence to oil market shocks, so the IEA’s unprecedented 400m bl release represents something of a double-edged sword
12 March 2026
LPG could rapidly expand access to clean cooking across Africa and prevent hundreds of thousands of deaths from indoor air pollution each year, but infrastructure shortages and regulatory barriers are slowing investment and market growth
11 March 2026
Missiles over Dubai and disruption in Hormuz are testing the emirate’s reputation—and shaking the energy hub at the centre of the Gulf economy
